Welcome to Avengers Academy
by Setsuna-X
Summary: Tony Stark has joined Avengers Academy and greets his friend Janet after meeting a fiery red-head


**NOTES:** I fell in love with AvAc and all it's characters. Started writing a series for them while in my FrostIron phase, so future chapters will have multiple pairings but FI will probably be the main pairing. Currently I'm out of the Avengers/Marvel Fandom so I'm not sure when the continuation of this series will be posted. I have 2 other stories to post after this, but after that it's all in the air. Hope you all like it :)

* * *

Tony wasn't really sure how life at the Academy for him came to be – all he could remember was Fury, who had been an associate of his father, had come to him regarding the organization SHIELD (which his father co-founded) and their new project, Avengers Academy.

Due to his strong familial ties and probably a heap of secrets Fury wasn't willing to reveal he was the first in line to join the superhero school.

Aside from his name, Tony's genius also granted him entry when his armored suit design caught Fury's notice. Granted, currently he had only developed the repulsor boots and the gauntlets but he planned to create a full suit in no time.

He wasn't alone at the Academy for long. His team had just completed the construction of Stark Tower which would serve as both his residence while on campus as well as business location and workshop.

With his father and mother gone he was sole heir to Stark Industries. Obadiah Stane was mostly in control of the day to day operations of the company, but Tony was still head of the board of directors and did a lot of work for their Research & Development team. Obie told him to just focus on school and to send over any schematics or products once a month. All in all, it was a pretty sweet gig.

When he first arrived at the Academy he was greeted by Virginia Potts. She was a fiery red-head with a smattering of freckles across her face and a no-nonsense attitude. Despite her organizational skills and hard exterior, Ms. Potts knew how to create a decent school environment.

* * *

Tony was used to people fawning all over him. He was rich, handsome, a genius, and his last name was 'Stark'. He would be hard-pressed to find anyone who wasn't impressed by at least one of those things and it had made it easier to have a lot of people bending over backwards to give him anything that he wanted.

Ms. Potts was not one of those people.

Tony was a natural flirt – it was just wired into him, just like his brain was wired into genius-mode. So when Ms. Potts came to greet him and give him a tour of the Academy he shamelessly flirted. Ms. Potts was of an unconventional beauty. Most of the women he had shown interest in before were more of the model-type. Ms. Potts didn't seem impressed – she was so unimpressed that when he would not stop flirting with her she took out a small bottle of pepper spray and threatened him.

That was when she won his respect and when he started to formulate a plan to get her away from the Academy and start working for Stark Industries instead. Any woman, especially one without any special powers, abilities, or training, that was not only able to resist his charm but also stand up to him was a very rare gem indeed.

He started calling her 'Pepper' after that.

When Pepper asked why the nickname, Tony would say it was because her freckles reminded him of pepper – she didn't have to know it was because of the spray.

* * *

JARVIS was the next thing that Tony added to the Tower. Although still a learning AI, JARVIS was already an extraordinary resource and friend. It was one of the days he was working on upgrading his coding when Pepper called him to go to the Academy entrance since they were finally accepting a new student.

Tony shoved his feet into his repulsor boots and threw on one gauntlet for steering so he could make his way to the entrance faster.

He saw a beautiful yellow car pull up as a girl with a black and yellow outfit slid out of the driver seat soon after.

She had a phone in her hand and short brown hair.

Actually, the more Tony looked at the car the more he realized just who had arrived.

"Jan!" Tony shouted. He wasn't sure if it was more out of surprise or glee.

"Tony!" Janet shoved her phone in her pocket as she rushed to Tony and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"You're joining the Avengers?" Tony managed to ask as he slid out of Janet's strong hold.

"Yeah~" she drawled out, "no way was I sitting behind while you had all the fun!" she admonished as she wagged a finger in his face.

Tony just laughed. "You never were one to let others do things without you. You are such a busybody," he teased, his eyes sparkling in mirth.

"I prefer to think of myself as a woman of many talents, interests, and hobbies," Janet huffed out. "Talking about that; selfie time!" She raised her phone up and Tony sidled in close to her as she snapped a photo. "This is so going online – we are just too cute!" she said as she started typing away on her phone.

"'Hashtag Besties, hashtag IronWasp?" Tony questioned as he saw the post. A second later he felt a vibration from his phone. He followed Janet on every social media platform she was on.

"Sorry to barge in on this happy reunion," cut in Pepper, a clipboard in her arms, "but we should really get you settled in Ms. Van Dyne."

"Please, call me Janet, or Jan, Ms. Potts."

"If that's the case, call me Pepper."

Janet looked at her in confusion. "I thought your name was Virginia?"

Pepper just chuckled. "You can blame your friend Tony for the name change."

Tony just beamed.

* * *

"And this is Dr. Hank Pym's lab," said Pepper. They were just finishing up a tour of the Academy. Tony opted to join them since he hadn't been too interested in the minutia of the school before, but with Janet around things were bound to be more fun and interesting.

"You must be tired. Did you want to head back to your dorm? We don't have a full cafeteria yet since there are only two of you here and the administrative staff but we can have them fix you something up if you're hungry Janet," said Pepper as she wrapped up the tour.

"Nope – no way is Jan eating cafeteria food on her first day," cut in Tony as he pulled out his phone from his jacket. "Jan, you feeling anything in particular?"

Janet just giggled. "Italian sounds good. Pepper, will you be joining us?"

"I'll have to take a rain check. I need to finish setting you up as well as making arrangements for future students. I'll leave you two to it and see you around later," said Pepper as she bid them farewell.

"You heard the lady, JARVIS. Italian for two and just have it brought up to the penthouse via drone will ya, buddy?"

"Very well, sir."

"Thanks JARVIS!" chirped Tony and Jan at the same time. They spoke briefly while they made their way to Tony's tower.

* * *

"Are you really sure I can't convince you to come and stay with me? I have plenty of room, plus I have plans to add a hot tub to the roof."

"I'm sure, Tony. That doesn't mean that I won't be visiting you a lot though."

Tony just grinned. "Want some cheese while we wait? I have a fridge solely dedicated to the stuff," he added proudly. His cheese fridge was a must-have when the tower was being built. It just wouldn't be Stark Tower without it.

Jan shook her head as she settled onto the couch in Tony's living room.

"No thanks, I'd rather wait for dinner."

Tony tossed her a water bottle as he settled in on the couch next to her. "Okay, now I really need all the details on how and why you're at the Academy. Last time I saw you was at that fundraising gala and you were telling me about some of your outfit designs."

Janet sighed after she took a swig of water. "Well if you're dragging this out of me then I expect some answers in return," she mock-threatened.

"Of course," replied Tony with a grin.

Jan had been one of his closest friends since he was a little boy. Their parents both flittered around the same high society circles and they would see each other constantly because of it. For a brief while their parents had even considered to have them married together in order to strengthen the Stark and Van Dyne name, but they had both rebelled horribly at the idea and were adamant that they were just friends.

Janet was someone Tony trusted with a lot more than any other person. She loved him as a brother and a best friend and because of that Tony was able to let her know things that no one else did, especially about his home life and childhood. The fact that Jan had been around for so much of his life helped make it easier. Janet was also so genuinely caring and sweet and was so easy to talk to that Tony found himself confiding things he never thought he could. When he first realized that he liked both men and women, Jan was the first person he told and it never even crossed his mind for a second that she would be disgusted with him or use the information against him, like selling it to the paparazzi or something.

Because of this, it came as a surprise that he had no idea that Janet was joining Avengers Academy. Although to be fair, he hadn't really told her he had joined either. Once he had gotten his repulsor technology to work inside the gauntlet and boots he was immediately swept up with the Academy and SHIELD. Then construction on his tower began along with JARVIS and Tony had just simply forgotten to mention it. It was both a blessing and a curse that Tony was such a workaholic.

"My story isn't all that interesting really. So you know my mom was working on energy tech, almost like a lightning-laser hybrid?" asked Jan. Tony nodded in response. "Okay so she was just playing with it until she saw an article about your gauntlet. She then decided to attach the energy into some customized gloves which I helped her design. Around that time mom and dad were working on a joint project with Pym Technologies. Dr. Hank Pym and my dad started working with the atom and human genetic make-up and the application of shrinking technology using Dr. Pym's created Pym Particle. Dad asked me if I would be able to create an outfit much like the gloves I made for mom. They wanted to incorporate the shrinking technology they devised and apply it to a person. Also around this time mom moved away from the lightning-laser hybrid energy and started working on applicable flight capabilities. She started with a simple design of wings. First she wanted to try something with birds, but when that didn't work out because bird wings are actually very difficult to replicate she moved onto something easier. She started looking at insects, specifically bees, wasps, hornets, butterflies – things like that. The wing design was easier to manage and then flight became possible. I helped her design them and then I applied them to the outfit I created for dad and added in the gloves, or stingers if you prefer. When I turned in the finished product to dad and Dr. Pym for review I had made it all to fit my body to better show it off. Needless to say they were impressed. We designed one or two more outfits – more generic this time – before dad and Dr. Pym canceled the project. The military wanted to be involved and to weaponize the tech and they weren't having it.

Dr. Pym is still working on Pym particles as far as I know and dad still maintained the contract with Pym Tech. They let me keep the original outfit – said I was a genius to be able to design and create something so unique and especially blend all the different technologies and ideas. As you know, Dr. Pym is a teacher at the Academy and he told my parents about it. There wasn't much available or known about the Avengers, but dad and mom trust Dr. Pym and they urged me to join. I wasn't sure at first, but when I started using the outfit more and more I just knew I needed to learn how to perfect it and if I save the world along the way and beside my best friend, well that's just icing on the cake. Ta-da! And that's the origin story of the Wasp."

Tony had to bite his tongue more than once in order not to disrupt Jan's story telling. It was an incredible tale and he had always known his friend was talented but this was just beyond compare and he couldn't help but be both proud and a little envious. She was able to work with such amazing tech and concepts and actually build something spectacular with it. If she wasn't like a sister to him Tony was sure he would be tripping over himself trying to propose to her.

"Wow – honestly, just wow, Jan. That is a damn good origin story and you are so amazing I just have no words."

Jan smiled softly at the genuine praise her friend easily gushed out. Tony was a literal genius and his words meant more to her than he probably knew. People usually saw her and her internet persona and just assumed she was an airhead and that she was interested more in clothes than science. What those people didn't know was that she was interested in both equally and she saw no reason why she should curtail one interest for another. What did it matter if people thought clothes and shoes and selfies were a waste of time – Janet loved every minute of it and she wasn't about to give it up, but she had to admit that it was nice to be praised and acknowledged for her science prowess as well.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sir. Your meal has arrived."

"I'll get it," said Tony as he rushed to the balcony doors and opened them to let the drone in. He took the food from its claw and went back to the living room. Janet and he took a few minutes to unpack everything and enjoy a few bites before he swept into his own story. (but not before Jan took a few pictures of their food and posted them on her Instagram)

Tony began with how he had been toying with the idea of repulsor technology for a while. He had wanted to start a new division at Stark Industries and felt that the tech could have different applications other than weapons. The new wing would have focused on green energy and other energy technologies. The large Arc Reactor they had powering one of the SI factories was a great inspiration. Tony had also started working on making the arc reactor smaller. His dad hadn't let him create the new division so Tony had started working on his projects in his spare time. After his parents death he couldn't really move away from weapons. He knew that one of his dad's last choices had been to deny him his request for the new technology wing. However, he didn't really want to work with weapons anymore ever since the warehouse explosion that caused him to expedite his research into miniaturizing the arc reactor. He wanted to permanently close the Weapons Division of SI but Obie talked him out of it, citing that the stock drop would be too much. Tony decided that it probably wasn't the right time, especially since his parents had only recently passed away, but moved his focus more into defensive items for the military instead of just things that went boom. He started working first on body armor and that was when his love for robotics made a re-appearance and then it just snowballed into creating the idea of the Iron Man Armor. He incorporated the repulsor tech into the gauntlets and boots and used them to fly while they were being powered by the arc reactor.

"So if it's made of a gold-titanium alloy, why call it 'Iron Man'?" asked Janet.

' _Stark men are made of Iron'_

The words from his dead father echoed into his head as they always did.

"Just something that made sense to me," Tony deflected. "And besides, can you really see people calling me 'Gold-Titanium Man'? I think not," he huffed out arrogantly with a smile.

Janet knew she wasn't getting the full story but decided not to push the issue. Tony would tell her the truth if he ever wanted to.

"And why 'Wasp'? Figured you would go more for 'Honey Bee' or 'Horny-hornet Girl' or something," teased out Tony with a wicked grin. Janet slapped his arm playfully in retaliation.

"Shut it. I chose _Wasp_ because the final wing design was closest to them and it's also an acronym for 'Women Are Seriously Powerful'," answered Janet with a grin. "Bees also die once they sting you, but believe me, I'll never run out of stings."

 **END.**


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